Sunday, October 15, 2006

Jet--Shine On (New!)

Biography-The Australian garage rock band Jet is comprised of Cameron Muncey (guitar/vocals), brothers Chris Cester (drums) and Nic Cester (guitar/vocals), and Mark Wilson (bass). Hailing from Melbourne and with dreams of making it big, the foursome formed just as the new millennium was beginning. They quickly self-released the Dirty Sweet EP in 2002. The vinyl-only album, which was limited to 1,000 pressings, was an instant hit down under. Once they pressed 1,000 more, Jet was being touted in the U.K. An American deal with Elektra surfaced in early 2003 and the Dirty Sweet EP was released domestically in May. An opening slot for the Rolling Stones in Jet's homeland soon followed. The band's proper studio full-length, Get Born, appeared in November. "Are You Gona Be My Girl?" became a radio favorite worldwide, pushing sales for Get Born near the four million mark. Jet also received seven ARIA (Australian Record Industry Association) nominations, and won six of those including single and album of the year. European dates with Oasis followed in summer 2005; Shine On, the band's second effort produced by Dave Sardy, arrived in fall 2006.

Review-There are two bands calling themselves Jet on this record. One is the Seventies-boogie-brained Australian quartet that made the 2003 corker Get Born. The other has spent much of the time in between opening for and hanging out with Oasis. I prefer the former, and that Jet doesn't show up - or at least turn it up, all the way - until five tracks into Shine On, with the hellbent-guitar and hammering-drums rush of "That's All Lies." That kind of charge keeps coming but only in fits and starts, between long stretches of booming balladry and acid-flavored big-guitar pop. The Oasis factor is all over the place. Dave Sardy, who produced that band's latest album, Don't Believe the Truth, does the honors here, and Jet's Beatlemania in "Bring It On Back" and the paisley-guitar chime of "Come On Come On" is a lot like Noel Gallagher's spin on the '68 John Lennon. There is a pleasant shock late in the album in "Eleanor," a lusty acoustic homage to the Everly Brothers. But Jet are at their best in the high power-riff gear of "Stand Up" and "Rip It Up" (not the Little Richard hit), with singer-guitarist Nic Chester barking and bawling like an improbable trinity of Liam Gallagher, Bon Scott and Axl Rose. When those songs take off, you fly.